Unfortunately, that's not how it works. If you "do the right thing" and tell upper management "no", you'll simply be thrown out by the shareholders, replaced with someone who WILL maximize profits for the investors at the expense of everyone down the chain.

If I'm reading this right, one of the impreratives is for CIOs or project managers to have the courage to stand up and say "no" to unreasonable deadlines and halfbaked plans, making a stink about it if necessary.

Charlie, good points. The polarization of American politics, nationally, and increasingly at the state level, between Red and Blue states, makes it so much harder to find workable answers to problems like Health care. But it's also made it harder to find competent government program managers willing to deal with the political turbulance and the frequent lack of executive and financial support they need to deliver on programs.

Yes, failure is always an option. Especially when there isn't enough time, money or staff. And anyone who is put in this position is being set up for failure, unless he or she has set themselves up, by saying that they can do it without knowing or caring about what they're going up against.

The best program managers for government projects are not going to come from the private sector, contrary to popular belief. We have a two-realm country, with public and private sectors equally important. The HealthCare.gov rollout reflects the fact that for many years the public sector hasn't received the investment, talent and cirtical-minded leadership that it's needed to perform well. The imbalance mayh now have been addressed at HealthCare.gov. It awaits addressing in many other sectors. When you look at the bipartisan leadership that stepped up in this country and in the UK at the outbreak of World War II, it makes our present day efforts look decidedly unheroic.

Doug, I agree, Cureton's observation "that the currency by which we measure return-on-investment is politics" is what sets government apart from the private sector, and should have sparked warning flares. My hunch is that a number of folks miscalculated the risk and ROI equation before it was too late.

The money line here in my book is "In government, the currency by which we measure return-on-investment is politics." Had this been the guiding measurement in the case with Healthcare.gov or Minnesota's MNsure health exchange site, there would have been more testing before these insurance exchange sites were launched. It's early days, so hopefully more customers and competition will lead to lower costs.

"He used bureaucracy to change the bureaucracy that resulted in a much-needed cultural change." That is a trick many private sector IT leaders would like to make use of occasionally, as well. Good to keep in mind when you are banging your head against the wall about bureaucracy.

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